Multi-Productive Landscapes of the Sustainable City: Opportunities for Managing Resource Needs through Urban Landscapes

Abstract

This paper aims to link concerns for providing resource needs to city dwellers by considering urban
open spaces as a means for creating infrastructural landscapes which limit ecological footprints of
cities and provide relief from density. How cities and their inhabitants manage their urban infrastructure is a critical component towards the design of efficient and sustainable use of natural capital, as many infrastructural systems reach the end of their usefulness in an era where population growth demands surpass carrying capacity. This paper will trace historical progressions of western cities’ resource management systems, theorize opportunities for alternative and sustainable strategies of landscape infrastructure, and explore opportunities through two United States case studies of New York City sites.